COHOES -- A petit larceny incident has turned into an instance of great generosity at the Vineyard Community Church where a computer was stolen earlier this month. Due to good timing and quick thinking from a church parishioner, the lone laptop has been replaced - 50 fold.

Lead Pastor Rick Colquhoun explained that a laptop was stolen the weekend of March 8 while the downtown church was used by an outside group. He said that they are fairly sure who took the item, but are not able to prove it.

Soon after the incident, the church purchased new security cameras to make sure something like this did not happen again. But that is not the only piece of technology the church recently acquired.

A parishioner at the church is also an employee at the Social Security Administration which went through the process of upgrading its computers not long ago. That parishioner saw there was an opportunity to right the wrong that had occurred, said Colquhoun.

Advertisement

The church is now in the possession of 50 double core processor computers which were donated following the agency's upgrade.

"We are now in the business of giving away computers," said Colquhoun. Since the church cannot utilize all 50 HP units with flat-screen monitors, it is reaching out to its community partners to see if any service programs need technological assistance.

The church is allowing its Bridge Network partners, comprised of more than 40 area programs including Habitat for Humanity and Literacy Volunteers of Rensselaer County, to apply for the computers first. Each program will be eligible for three computers, said Brittney Hunt, the Bridge Network coordinator. The group has been meeting since the spring of 2012.

She said that applications should be available next week.

Colquhoun added, "There are some programs that are using computers missing letters in their keypad. This will help a lot of agencies."

If there are still computers remaining, Colquhoun said they would reach out to individuals who may be in need.